The Tighten Ups

Although our set list consists of R&B, soul and funk, we are at our core a rock band blended with an amazing horn section. The combination makes for a nice foundation for dancing and accessibility for listeners of all ages: the kids love the rock and dance aspect whereas the more mature audience members enjoy hearing some of their old favorites.

Here is a link to a video demo of The Tighten Ups performing at San Diego's City Fest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bGaJ0vxa

A write up by Michael Kinsman describing The Tighten Ups and their appearance at the 2013 San Diego Blues Festival:

"If you like you music nice and rough, The Tighten Ups are right up your alley. For five years, this throwback R&B band has been blazing through San Diego with a full-force assault led by singer/leader Laura Jane Wilcock.

She’s recruited a powerhouse collection of musicians that are ready to break into a rousing version of Screamin’ Jay’s “I Put A Spell On You” or a driving version of “Tell Mama” that would make Etta James blush.

The seven-piece band – propelled by a nasty horn section – is just as likely to tackle a pounding Eddie Floyd song or a Sly Stone rave-up as it is to offer up one of its own compositions or a contemporary such as “How You Like Me Now” by The Heavy.

The San Diego Music Award nominees are so infectious that anyone who doesn’t make it to the dance floor can be seen toe-tapping and rocking with the beat.

It’s blues, it’s funk, it’s rock, it’s R&B and it all comes together under the banner of The Tighten Ups. It’s music that puts the squeeze on you."

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Here is a February 2015 article about The Tighten Ups by (link hidden) writer Timothy Mattox:

"Those who write about music and musicians frequently make comparisons to other artists. By referencing a player's style, a genre or similarities in sound a journalist can easily enhance and focus their descriptive process. It's a tried and true practice that I, too, have on more than one occasion employed. That is until witnessing, up-close and personal an on-stage performance featuring a Southern California band called the Tighten Ups. After hours of thought and a dram or two of brown liquor in a dirty glass, I reasoned the only comparable scenario that even remotely measured up would be the act of intentionally sticking your tongue in a light socket. In doing so, you become instantly and acutely aware that you've just experienced something that is at once both electrifying AND enlightening.

Since forming the band seven years ago, the Tighten Ups have set themselves apart by lacing their rock and roll with syncopated bursts of high voltage brass and soulful doses of rhythm and blues. And to the delight of friends and fans everywhere the band's high energy, power driven shows have become just as visual as they are amplified. I vividly recall how the band opened the San Diego Blues Festival a few years ago and methodically, song after song blew several hundred of us backward into the Bay. Whether they're cranking through some Blood, Sweat and Tears, tearing off a James Brown cover or wailing on one of their own compositions, the Tighten Ups play it fast and loose… and their fans wouldn't have it any other way."

You can read the full article here:

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